Perforated powder-grain.



No. 802,847. PATENTED OCT. 17, 1905. H. C. ASPINWALL, DEOD.

r. M. ASPINWALL, ADMINISTRATRIAX. PERFORATED POWDER GRAIN APPLICATION FILED JULY 17, 1903.

. view of the same.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

ASPINWALL ADMINISTRATRIX OF CIGASIQDT' SAID HENRY (J. ASPINWALL, DE-

PERFORATED POWDER-GRAIN.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 1'7, 1905.

Application filed July 17, 1903. Serial No. 165,905.

To all whmlt it may concern:

Be it known that I. HENRY 3. ASPINWALL, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Haskell, in the county of Passaic and State of New Jersey, have invented new and useful Perforated Powder-Grains, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to perforated powdergrains for small-arms, with the object in view of providing a colloidal powder which will burn with uniform rapidity throughout the charge and which will admit of the finest degree of accuracy in determining the time required for burning, and thereby the highest vefliciency of the charge in arms of varying sizes and lengths of bores. I

While it has hitherto been common to provide cannon-powder with perforations, the perforating of grains suitable for use in smallarms has presented difiiculties which have hitherto been found too great to render its.

manufacture for general use feasible. For instance, the ratio of the diameter of the perforation in the small grain to the thickness of the wall surrounding it is greater than in the cannon-powder, and yet the perforation in the small grain is so small as to amount to substantially a capillary tube through which air will pass but slowly during the molding of the string from which the grains are cut, and the walls of the string will from slight cause close and so render the grains out therefrom non-homogeneous. I have succeeded, however, in overcoming the diiiiculties heretofore existing and in producing perforated powder-grains for small-arms which are substantially uniform in size and shape and which can be depended upon to produce uniform results from successive charges of equal weight in guns of the same type and caliber.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a vertical section of a simple form of apparatus for making the strings from which the grains are to be cut. Fig. 2 is a view of the die in side elevation. Fig. 3 is a top plan Fig. 4 is a vertical section through the same. Fig. 5 is a horizontal section in the plane of the line A A of Fig. 4:. Fig. 6 is a bottom plan view. Fig. 7 is a top plan view with strainer-plate removed. Fig. 8 is a top plan-view with both strainer-plate and coreplate and core removed; and Figs. 9 and 10 each represent, in

end and side elevation, a perforated powdergrain, the perforations being of different sizes and the grains, as a whole, being shown exaggerated in size.

The die-block is denoted by 1. It is fitted to screw into a bed-plate 2, which in turn is located at the end of a cylinder 3, resting on a support t and provided with a piston 5 for forcing the plastic material, which is to form the grain, through the die. The support 4 is perforated, as at 6, to permit the string of powder to pass from the die. The die 1 is preferably funnel-shaped on its interior, as shown at in proximity to its dischargeopening, and also has air-ducts 8 leading from the outside air through its wall into communication with an air-duct9, extending around the interior wall of the die. The core-block is denoted by 10. It has a central hub 11, from Which arms 12 radiate to a rim 13. Airducts 14 lead from its periphery in communication with the duct 9, through its arms 12 to a duct 15 on the stem 16 of the core 17, and this duct 15 is in communication with a central duct 18, which extends along the core to the end within the discharge-openingof thedie. This structure admits of a free flow of air to the interior of the powder-string as it passes from the die. and hence does not require the air to enter the string from its advance end. The air may be admitted either with or Without pressure, as may be desired. A perforated plate 19 is located in the base'of the dieblock to act as a strainer to prevent foreign material from entering the die.

The grain 20 (shown in Fig. 9) has a perforation somewhat larger than the perforation shown in the grain 21, Fig. 10, and is somewhat shorter or thinner. The sizes of the perforations in grains of a uniform extreme diameter may be varied by changing the size of the core, and the lengths or thicknesses of the grains may be varied by regulating the cutting apparatus. (Not shown.)

By feeding the air as fast as it is needed during the formation of the string the walls predetermined setting of the sights is de pendent upon not only the force of the explosive, but also upon the uniformity of the ignition and the time of burning of the charge, it is of the highest importance that the perforations in the grains should be uniform throughout, and this I have succeeded in accomplishing with more or less perfection.

What I claim is v A colloidal smokeless-powder grain of the usu'al dimensions employed in small-arms having a capillary perforation.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed myname, in presence of two witnesses. this 7th day of July, I5

HENRY C. ASPINWALL.

Witnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, C. S. SUNDGREN. 

